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When considering the cost of training, it should not be forgotten that there may also be a cost arising from not carrying out training. Awareness training may cost very little except for the price of some journals, videos, and seminar fees, but the cost in terms of time lost by not giving it may be considerable. In the absence of prior training, it is not difficult to spend between 2 and 5 man-years of effort carrying out system evaluation and selection. Much of this time is spent trying to understand the basics of CAD/CAM/CAE. Training costs contain a component directly related to the cost of training and a component due to the loss of production during training time. The costs may appear high since between 10 and 25 days training per year per user may be required and some of the trainers may charge $5000 per week. Because the amount of training will depend on the complexity of the system and the cost of the trainer will depend on the contents of the course, it is not possible to give an average value for the cost of training. The CAD/CAM/CAE Manager will need to identify and quantify the training required in a particular company. There is always the temptation to reduce the cost of training by cutting the training budget. However, this is counterproductive as only well-trained people will be able to deliver the promised increases in productivity. Nonetheless, there are some ways to reduce training costs without adversely affecting productivity. Some of the training may take place outside normal working hours. Low-cost PC's may replace expensive workstations for some training. Web-based training may reduce the need for on-site training. Sometimes it will be possible to match training with productive system use. In many cases it will be found that the cost of training over several years will exceed the cost of the CAD/CAM/CAE system. Many CAD/CAM/CAE Managers invest years of effort in selecting a CAD/CAM/CAE system. Few invest such effort in defining training requirements and selecting training solutions, although it is clear that these are also very important. |